I walked away from a million pound chance and it was the best thing I've ever done

A man had the chance to lead a million pound business but became happier when he walked away. Ste Connor, 30, from Huyton, was the head of a well-performing IT firm which was on course to keep growing.

However, Ste was deeply unhappy with his life, and had struggled with his mental health from a young age. He told the ECHO: “I had a challenging childhood. I had ADHD. I thought my life was the only way of life. I was an outlier, growing up alone with how I felt. I always felt alone and misunderstood.”

When he became an adult, Ste worked in telecommunications and set up his own business in the field, but it did not resolve how he felt. He said: “It could have been growing into seven figures.

"I found a lot of the driving force of my ego was money. I was using money as external validation. I was lost inside.

"On the outside, people say, you’re really successful. But I was drinking a lot at the weekend.

“With my mental health, it was a concentration of absolute pain. There was a lot of eating on the road, grabbing fast food. I was doing 14 hour days, working on the roadside with the rats.

Three years ago, Ste was the lowest he had ever felt, and had even contemplated taking his own life. After this, he began to seriously reconsider a change in career. He said: “I got to a point where it was either, I choose money and grow this business that I know is making me unhappy, or do something else.”

Despite the instability that giving up his own business might bring, Ste knew he needed a change and began planning for a new career working with clients on their fitness and self-development.

He said: “The risk was absolutely huge. Over the next five years I was looking at a seven figure expansion, but you only get one life. I saved up some money.

"I thought, I’ve been so unhappy in life, I know what it feels like. I've got 12 years of experience, so I can always go back to IT if it fails. But what if it doesn’t fail?”

A year on, Ste Connor Performance Coaching is doing well. Ste said: “I deal with a lot of people like me who have a lot of money but feel lost - business owners who want to get fit and healthy.

“You feel like you need to prove to the world you’re worth something - that’s money. They realise they still feel the same. I coach a lot of people with ADHD - I have that too.

“I help business owners with the structures. A lot of people say ‘I don’t have the right time for exercise', but you do. You just don’t have the right structure.

"You can earn the same amount of money in less hours. The people who don't have time actually don't have the structures in place. They are in a cycle of certain behaviour.

“They don’t know anything other than a certain way of life. You’re totally consumed by your work 24/7. True success is getting time back.”

Ste adds that he has clients across the UK and Canada. He also runs a podcast which has over 4,000 followers. He feels proud of what he has accomplished.

He said: “I technically see myself retired at the age of 30. I only work two days a week. Now I see myself as time efficient. My big success from a year ago is that I can do what I want.

“I was the person out there who thought there was no other way than the life I was living. My message to any one person out there who is struggling - there is a new way of life out there. If I can come back from where I came from, anyone can.”